By
Alex Smith |
Trelleborg has completed the installation of its rope-free automated mooring system, AutoMoor, at the Port of Tallinn’s Old City Harbour in Tallinn, Estonia.
Six of Trelleborg’s AutoMoor T40 Twin Arm systems were installed at the Old City Harbour’s Berth 13 cruise ferry wharf.
“Trelleborg is honoured to have been selected by the Port of Tallinn to automate mooring operations at Berth 13, facilitating the international ferry port in becoming not only one of the most efficient and safest terminals in the world, but one of the most sustainable,” said Richard Hepworth, president of Trelleborg’s marine and infrastructure operations. “With ports operating in highly competitive environments, maximising the efficiency and safety of mooring operations, while supporting the decarbonisation of ports by reducing the time vessel engines run at berth.”
AutoMoor can securely moor vessels in under one minute and release them for departure in around 30 seconds. The system also removes the need for a mooring crew, with rope-free and hands-free mooring. AutoMoor’s passive damping system enables the control of vessel movement without using power to operate the unit, while its lip seal allows vacuum pumps to be run less frequently, helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in port.
The AutoMoor T40 Twin Arm unit has two mooring arms that can operate in sync or independently to provide flexible mooring of vessels with varying hull profiles and enable ports to accept a greater range of vessel types. Its compact footprint also enables it to be installed in limited spaces between gantry rails and the wharf edge.
The AutoMoor installation is part of the TWIN-PORT 3 project being co-financed by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility, a collaboration between Tallink, Viking Line, Eckerö Line, the ports of Tallinn and Helsinki and the City of Helsinki. The Port of Tallinn is investing a total of €15.8 million ($13.3 million) out of the project’s total budget of €61.2 million ($51.3 million).
“Berth 13 will service large passenger ferries from Finnish shipping companies including Viking Line and Eckero Line, on the Tallinn to Helsinki route across the Gulf of Finland, our busiest route,” said Peeter Nogu, chief infrastructure officer at the Port of Tallinn. “With its unrivalled experience in delivering time-critical and high-profile projects, we’ve no doubt Trelleborg is the ideal partner for us and that its AutoMoor system will prove its worth in future-proofing mooring for peak performance at the berth over the coming years.”